After spending the early part of the week looking at WBC rosters that most American baseball fans can't make head or tails of, today we get to tackle Pool C, which includes talent-laden rosters from Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Venezuela made it all the way to the semi-finals in 2009 and seem pretty well positioned to make another run in 2013. The Dominican team shouldn't have much trouble bouncing back from the embarrasment of losing twice to the Netherlands in 2009. Most importantly, this group seems like it's almost entirely devoid of pitching talent, which means that we're probably going to see some entertaining, high scoring games. It also means that if any of these teams are left standing in the semifinals, Japan's pitching staff will slice through them like a hot knife through butter. Because that's what happens in the World Baseball Classic.
But we're not quite there yet! For now, we've got Pool C rosters and predictions below the jump.
You could probably make a good argument that Venezuela's got the best hitting lineup in the group, though the Dominican team gives them a run for their money in that department. Their infield is particularly deep; it's got mashers like Miguel Cabrera and Pablo Sandoval and glovemen like Marco Scutaro and Elvis Andrus and even an Asdrubal Cabrera to split the difference. The outfield's got Carlos Gonzalez and Martin Prado. They've got Miguel Montero behind the plate. Venezuela is capable of putting crooked numbers up on the scoreboard. The pitching staff is a little bit thinner, at least in terms of starters. Anibal Sanchez is a nice start, but there's not much depth behind him with Jhoulys Chacin and Carlos Zambrano, I guess. Francisco Rodriguez and Ronald Belisario give the back end of the bullpen some talent, but then there are also long-forgotten former big league relievers like Wil Ledezma and Juan Rincon who might be forced to eat innings if the starters falter. That's probably fine for group play, but it may cost them in the long run.
Puerto RicoThis is a pretty weak looking roster to me, especially with Javier Vazquez dropping out earlier this week. They've got Yadier Molina and brother Jose behind the plate and their outfield is strong with Carlos Beltran and Angel Pagan and Andres Torres and Alex Rios (if you believe in his bounceback from last year, I guess), but that's about it. The infield and the pitching staff both look painfully bare. In the infield there's Mike Aviles, some Quadruple-A guys (Irving Falu and Andy Gonzalez) and no one else you're likely to have heard of. The pitching staff features names like JC Romero and Nelson Figueroa and a bunch of minor leaguers. Paired up with Venezuela and the Dominican Republic means that they're probably going to be overmatched in the first round.
Dominican RepublicRobinson Cano, Edwin Encarnacion, Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes, Carlos Santana, and Nelson Cruz form a lineup with some serious punch. Like other countries that are relying on MLB players, though, the pitching staff for the Dominican Republic is fairly weak. Wandy Rodigruez is probably the best pitcher on their roster, and after him and Edinson Volquez there's not much in the way of starters at all. There is some solid relief pitching here, at least, with Octavio Dotel and Alfredo Simon and Fernando Rodney and even Jose Valverde. Depending on how manager Tony Pena handles the pitchers there might be enough pitching here to let them make a deep run.
SpainSpain doesn't even have the benefit of MLB players with Spanish heritage that can play for them the way that Jason Grilli and Chris Denorfia are for Italy. I just keep looking at their roster and seeing Eddie Morlan and thinking of this. Even the Astros could beat this team three times out of four.
Prediction
This group is going to score a TON of runs. The reason that Japan and Korea and Cuba have fared so well in the first two WBCs is that they don't really hold back on who can participate. There are plenty of great MLB hitters in this tournament and in this group in particular, but you won't find many MLB pitchers that are much better than the above average Wandy Rodriguez types. The lineups from Venezuela and the Dominican in particular are going to feast on poor pitching in this group and we're going to see some really high scoring games. Most likely, those are the two teams that we'll see advance. The Dominican team was hugely disappointing three years ago, though. If that happens again, it'll open the door for Puerto Rico to advance.
